This week’s choice is about dreaming vs. doing.  Are you the type of person that says “I’ll be happy when….”, you move to the bigger house in the bigger neighborhood, when your kids get into the private school, when you hire an associate, when you open your satellite clinic.  When does it end?  I’m not talking about goals, but when you base your happiness on your achievements, yet you never reach the carrot dangled in front of your face.

How many times just in the past week have you decided to do something but you didn’t follow through?  Cottrell says to achieve success you have to make the choice to do something different. Don’t be content with the status quo or the norm.  ”The status quo may be comfortable, but you cannot improve while you are in the rut of doing the same things over & over”.

So how can you move from talking about doing something to actually doing something?  Read daily.  Cottrell says ” there’s a direct correlation between the books you read and the success you achieve.  The more you learn, the more opportunities you will have to earn”.  You can never lose by gaining more wisdom.

Keep moving.  Winners are not content with their last victory or performance.  They continually strive to be better.  How many great coaches quit after their first big win? How many authors stopped writing after their first best seller?  Keep searching for ways to improve.  Don’t quit if things get difficult.  Stay the course.  Be persistent.

Pay attention to others that have paved the path before you.  Want a successful associate practice? Look into programs that offer step-by-step instructions how to do so.  Do you want a self sustaining referral practice?  Find a group that is known for producing such practices.  Spend more time on action rather than just thinking about “someday” or “I’ll be happy when”.

Be the type of person that MAKES things happen.  Don’t sit back and watch others make things happen or years from now, you will be wondering what happened!

I’ll end with the words of Henry Ford  “You can’t build a reputation on what you are going to do.”